For the Republic
by Swa-Sa Masou
Summary: Clovis Arc, but with better communication and less temper between Anakin and Padme. rated for implied situations.
1. chapter 1

_A/N: full disclosure, I have not watched even a small percentage of the Clone Wars cartoons, I have watched the episodes in the "Clovis Arc" to understand two other stories I've read. But I don't like the way things played out in those._

_Anidala is my OTP of my otps and it was my first dive into the fandom world. I'm getting married in a week and a half and I wanted a better storyline, with a better portrayal of marriage, for my fan-heart._

_"You're not going to let me?" Padme asked incredulously? _Didn't he know her better than that by now?

"That's not what I meant." Anakin pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to clear his head. He had to think. She always got into his head and he needed to be able to convince her of this best course of action.

"Then what did you mean, Anakin?" Padme leveled the question coldly, fully aware that they were on Naboo's private hover deck in the middle of the Senate chambers. She crossed her arms across her chest.

"I only meant…" He cut himself off. He had been about to reach for her. "Look, can we finish this later, at a time when we can talk as us? Instead of as Jedi and Senator?"

She turned away from him, cheeks flaming, "I don't see that there's a difference. You'll try to control me either way." She sighed. He had a point. She hated when he had a point in logical arguments. She wasn't used to it. "Fine. This session is done in 30 minutes. Then I'll be returning to my apartments."

"Our." He moved into her line of vision as she touched the button to return the hover to its port. "Our apartments." He said softly. He exited the hover as it docked and left her to her Senate arena.

* * *

Padme's apartments:

Padme was sitting at her vanity, taking the complicated pins out of her hair when she heard the door woosh open. She knew he would sense where she was and he would come to find her. She was untwirling the last of the clips when he came up behind her and started to slowly massage the tension from her shoulders.

"Mmmm," she leaned back into him. Their argument didn't shake her love or trust in him. It didn't shake how comfortable she felt with him. He continued to gently knead at her shoulders before tapering away to caress her neck and then, finally, leaned down to kiss her.

She closed her eyes and savored it. When he pulled back, she felt the smile slip from her face, "Do the shoulder rub and kiss come with an apology?"

He groaned and flopped down, throwing his hands over his eyes, on the bed. Their bed. As he had reminded her earlier, this is their home together. "How about half of an apology and an explanation, followed by more non-aggressive negotiations?"

Padme smirked at their old joke. "A half apology, huh?" She got up from her seat and sat down next to his supine form.

Sitting up and slowly twining their fingers together, Anakin turned his words over to select them carefully. Words were Padme's weapon that she wielded as deftly as he did a lightsaber, but not with him. She had been furious earlier. She usually didn't dissect what he said and turn it back on him. She was usually more understanding. "I'm sorry that I was trying to tell you what to do." He looked Padme straight in the eye. "You are a fiercely independent woman who is capable of taking command of any number of situations and I should never try to control you." He hastily added, "and I'm not."

Face softening as he gave his _half apology_, Padme had to remind her self that she was still angry. "Funny, it sure seemed like it to me with the whole use of the word 'let' earlier today." She bit out.

Dropping her hand, Anakin got to his feet and ran his hands frustratedly through his hair. "What I meant when I said that is that I can't stand the thought of you doing this and I will do everything I can to convince you not to." He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to dispel the coming headache.

Crossing her arms and leveling him with a look that would make weaker men balk, Padme's voice came out coolly, "You can't stand the thought? Because you don't trust me, Anakin?"

His head snapped up, "You think I don't trust you? Padme, I'm gone for weeks at a time. If I thought I couldn't trust you then what would even have been the point in marrying you? Clovis gets under my skin, you know he does it on purpose because he knows I have feelings for you. He just thinks we'd never act on them! And I'm your husband, don't I have a right to be upset at the idea of my wife going on a date with her ex-boyfriend?" He gestured accusingly in her general direction.

Color rising in her cheeks, Padme leapt to her feet. "That is not what's happening. I'm not going on a date with Clovis." She pointed a finger at his chest.

"Aren't you?" He didn't look defiant, he looked defeated.

She was stuck in her spot, anger dissipating as guilt flooded into her. He was right. This was going to look like a date to everyone except her. And him. He should know it's not a date, even if the rest of the galaxy, Clovis included thinks that it is. Still, she felt low for putting her husband through this. "It's for the Republic." She said simply, her voice small, and resumed her seat on the bed.

Their relationship had a very clear dynamic. Anakin wore his heart on his sleeve, emotions always simmering just below the surface, with the ability to boil over in a passion, good or bad, at any moment. Padme was stoic. She was the voice of reason. She was bad a being vulnerable with him, but he wasn't. She was his anchor point to show weakness when he had to be the poster-boy for the war. He wasn't allowed to be weak anywhere but in her arms. Because of this, his confession when he sat down next to her again shouldn't have shocked her, but it did, nonetheless.

"It will look like a date to everyone. He will think it's a date and that he's got another chance with you. And as your husband and someone who loves you more than anything in this whole blasted galaxy, that hurts me. And it hurts my ego because he can give you what you deserve in a suitor while I can only give you encoded messages, hidden embraces, and fleeting nights together."

"Oh, Anakin." Padme didn't hesitate at all to push her hands into his hair above his ear and at the nape of his neck, pulling him to her. She tucked his head in at her shoulder and his arms wrapped around her waist. "I'm not concerned about what Clovis or anyone else could give me. As long as they are from you, I'll take the coded letters and stolen moments together." She pulled back. "But I still need to do this, Anakin. He'll give me information that he won't give to anyone else. And it's my part to end this war." Gently cupping his face, she forced eye contact, "my part to end it and bring you home to me more often."

Swiping at his eyes, Anakin stood again, "So my feelings in this just don't matter?"

"Of course they do-"

He cut across her. "Just not more than the needs of the Republic." He let out a long sigh. "I understand, if I have to. If we went with our emotions, I would have left the Order, you the Senate, and we'd be sipping Nubian wine in a lake house each night."

"As nice as that sounds, we could never truly be happy knowing that we'd run away from our duty." She paused. An idea had struck her earlier, but she wasn't going to give voice to it while she had been so mad at him. "You know, it's not like you have to leave Clovis and me here alone all night going over the data. We can come up with a reason for you to be here. Would that lessen the blow?"

A huge smile spread over his face. "I still don't like it, but the look on his face when he thinks he's got you alone and then I come walking in would be pretty priceless."

Padme got to her feet and lightly smacked him on the chest before allowing herself to be drawn to him for a kiss. "I promise you, Anakin, I'm only doing this because I really believe it will shorten this war. Nothing else could tear me from your arms tonight."


	2. chapter 2

The sun was starting to set and Anakin knew that to get ready for her not-a-date, date, Padme would need to be getting up. After their argument, they had laid down together, to enjoy each other's company. Well, one thing led to another as usually happened when they shared a bed, and now Padme would definitely need time to shower and apply make up to certain areas, depending on the gown she wore.

Part of him was debating not waking her, making it so that she wouldn't have time to properly get ready. But, for one, it would just be rescheduled and it might happen on a night when he was off-planet if he wasn't careful, and for two, that would just be a shitty thing to do to his wife.

"Padme," He gently nudged her, "If you're going to make your… meeting" he started uncomfortably, "You'll need to be getting up soon."

Glancing at the chrono, Padme groaned for a moment, but then her head snapped up and she clutched the bedsheet to her chest. "Soon? Anakin! I should have gotten up twenty minutes ago!"

Anakin enjoyed the view all the way to the fresher as she scurried around, trying to get ready.

* * *

He sat in the living room as Moté helped her to get her hair pinned up and when she came down, Anakin's jaw dropped. She looked stunning. Which, if she were dressing up for him, wouldn't have been an issue.

Before he could mention the low cut or the slink of the skirt, she cut him off. "Don't start again. If I had woken up earlier, or if we hadn't indulged in certain activities earlier, I would have had time to have a handmaiden freshly press a different gown. As it is, this is one of the few made of a material that doesn't require pressing. The other two are worse." She smiled sweetly, "I've worn them for you, at the lake house, remember?"

Smiling wolfishly at her, Anakin crossed the distance between them. "I don't suppose it would do to have your make up freshly smeared from a kiss before you open the door?" He didn't allow her time to answer before swooping in for said kiss.

She swatted at him once again that day. "You're so childish." But she drew him in for another one. "If I seem flustered, Clovis is arrogant enough that he'll chalk it up to him being just _so handsome_ that of course it affects me." Padme rolled her eyes. "We didn't have time to think of your cover story for being here when we get back!"

Her intercom pinged to let her know that someone was comming her frequency from the entrance to 500 Republica. "It's okay, I thought it through," Anakin declared as he held out her cloak for her. "I'm installing a new security system. You felt unsafe after your time in that prison cell."

Grinning as she fastened the cloak, Padme turned back to him, "Perfect." She glanced at the door, light still blinking for the comm. "Hey," she started and then laced their fingers together, "I love you, Anakin Skywalker. I married you. I want only you. I have no intention of putting our marriage in jeopardy."

He leaned down to plant a tender kiss to her temple. "I know, Angel. I will never like this plan, but I know."

And he watched her answer the comm with a hasty, "I'll be right down." And then walk out for a date with another man.

Well, if he was going to convincingly install a new security system, he might as well go get a new security system.

* * *

As the night pressed on, Padme had to keep repositioning herself so that Clovis didn't have a way to touch her. First her hand, then her shoulder, when he touched her thigh, she didn't bother to reposition herself, she shoved his hand away. That probably wasn't the most delicate way to handle it, but her conversation with Anakin had left her hyper aware of the things that only he should be doing, as her husband.

They reached the lifts to take them to her apartment and she brought the conversation to the data that needed sifting through. She made sure to impress upon him how vital he was to the Republic and to her specifically, in solving this mystery.

"Padme, we've just had a lovely evening out and now I'm being shown to your apartment, must we discuss only work again?" He reached for her hand as the lift doors parted with a slight swoosh.

Deftly moving out of his reach, Padme placed the hand he had been reaching for on the panel outside her door and it chimed open. "Rush, I agree that this has been a lovely evening, but the whole point of tonight was to get to the bottom of this money trail. We've got a lot of work to get through. I think it best that we focus."

She stepped through the doorway and paused. Anakin could be absolutely silent when he felt like it and it seemed as though he felt like it. She couldn't hear him anywhere. This bothered her only because a silent Anakin could be unpredictable.

Feeling Clovis come up behind her, Padme stiffened. At the slightest whisper of his hands on her hips, she stepped away and sat down at the couch in front of the coffee table with the built in holo-projector and chip reader. She called up thee program, "Do you have all of the data chips we need?"

Gracefully crossing the room and taking a seat next to her, too close to her, Clovis reached into his pocket and tossed five chips onto the table. 'Padme, is something wrong? You've been avoiding my advances all night?"

Smiling tightly while inserting the first of the data chips, Padme quipped, "Which, to some men, would be a deterrent from offering more advances."

"Except I know how you feel about me, Padme. There were dozens of senators who could have handled this and yet you chose for it to be you." He leaned in to speak right at her ear, "And I still feel the same for you, too."

Pushing gently at his shoulder to force some distance, and pushing her annoyance down as far as she could, Padme exclaimed, "Rush!"

Just as Anakin walked through the door, wearing his normal Jedi pants and boots, but only a thin, grease-stained undershirt on top, complete with grease smudges on his cheek and hands, seemingly unaware of what he was walking in on. "Senator- oh, I'm sorry?" He asked more than said. "Representative Clovis." He nodded coldly at the man sitting too close to his wife.

"Jedi Skywalker" Clovis nodded back with an attitude slightly above freezing. He turned to Padme, "The Jedi is here?"

Standing and placing herself between the two men, Padme tried to adopt a pleasant, welcoming tone, 'The Jedi is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Anakin is one of the few people whose allegiance I can be absolutely certain of. So when I felt a little out of sorts after spending time in a prison cell, he was the natural choice to ask for assistance with a new security system." Allowing some venom to drip into her voice, she added, "If I recall, Rush, you were with us that day and he saved your life too." She turned to Anakin, "I hope the installation hasn't been too troublesome?"

Trying to choke down the laughter, Anakin had no idea that this could be so thoroughly enjoyable. It was almost worth Padme going on this date. "Not at all, M'lady. As I stated before you left, it works best to install when the residence is empty so that the scans of what undisturbed should look like are more accurate. But I only have the kitchen and this living area left, so as long as you two won't be needing brain food for these data chips," he gestured at the table, "there shouldn't be a problem for at least 45 minutes and then I can wait until you're finished to do my work in here."

Clovis looked perturbed. He gestured toward Anakin, "You mean you've been here this whole time? We've been gone nearly three hours."

Smirking at the discomfort it clearly brought the other man, Anakin continued with his explanation. "Yup, I've been here since you picked her up and I'll be here after you leave. You see, it's a very extensive security system and I'll have to do the scans of this room once Senator Amidala has retired for the evening. I'll activate it as I leave and she can deactivate it from her bedchambers tomorrow."

"I think we can fend for ourselves, should you finish the kitchen before we finish working. Surely you can finish this tomorrow." Clovis grunted sharply.

Sensing that they could go on like this for some time, Padme interjected, "Well, why don't we get started and Anakin, you can get started, and we'll see how the evening shakes out." With that, she sat back down and inserted the first data chip.

From time to time, Padme could hear Anakin tinkering in the kitchen and when she had excused herself to the fresher, there was actually a black box blinking a green light at her from above the door. So he _had_ actually gotten a security system then.

She returned and looked at Clovis and the notes they had amassed. They had only one chip left to go through of the more classified information. The rest they would be free to dig through in bright, open to the world, offices tomorrow.

As if sensing her thoughts, Clovis piped up, "We've only got one chip left. Surely you can send the Jedi home? He's gotten in the way of our evening plans enough."

Smoothing her skirt and reaching for the eject button, Padme turned over her response before she said the words aloud. "I don't know what plans you had for the evening, Rush, but my plans are moving along quite nicely. We've almost finished."

At that moment, Anakin came out of the kitchen, holding a carton of those black boxes. He set it down on the floor and sank into an armchair adjacent to their positions in front of the screen. "I'm all set except for this room."

"Excellent," Clovis remarked, beaming. "Senator Amidala and I were just talking about how you could leave for the night and come back tomorrow to finish."

Nodding menacingly, Anakin retorted, "I'll bet you were."

"Actually," Padme cut across them, my word! Men's egos could be exhausting to dance around, "I was just saying that we're so close to being done and I would really appreciate you staying to finish once we go through this last data set. It won't be more than half an hour, Anakin. Do you mind?"

Anakin answered her question, but smiled at Clovis as he did so, "Not at all, M'lady."

As the final chip was ejected, Padme stood and stretched. Clovis stood as well, but hesitated. Padme scooped up his cloak and motioned to him, "Come, we did great work tonight and I'll see you in the morning. I'll walk you to the door."

As the pair neared the door, Anakin began taking tools out of his carton, but kept his ears trained on the two. He saw Clovis reach for Padme's arm and he would have intervened, but he remembered his own words from earlier: Padme could take care of herself. And if it looked like she couldn't, he could always jump in. He swallowed the temper he'd felt boiling.

"I don't like it. Him still being here so late at night, alone with you."

Padme wrenched her arm out of his grasp. "I don't know what you think is going on between us, Rush, that you would have any say in the matter of who is in my apartment at any hour of the day or night, but you have overstepped your bounds when you try to tell me that I have something to fear from _Anakin_."

She keyed open the door and gestured through it. "Goodnight, Representative Clovis."

He shrugged into his cloak and walked out of the door with a hmmph.

When the door whooshed closed, Padme sank back against it and briefly closed her eyes, but before she knew it, she felt Anakin's strong arms wrap around her and she clasped her arms around his neck.

"I thought he'd never leave." He began kissing her neck. "You in this dress, showing off how smart you are with all that analyzing you were doing in front of me. Gah! I was going crazy." He nibbled at her jawline. "Do you have any idea how incredibly sexy I find your ability to out-think anyone in any room?" His lips found hers and she responded in kind.

It hadn't been easy to be this close to him, in their home, and not touch him. Gently, she pushed him back, he looked confused and slightly hurt, until she laughed, "Why, Knight Skywalker, I believe you have a security system to finish installing, and then I think something about activating it from the bedroom was mentioned." She winked and slid past him up to the bed chambers.

He laughed and threw a piece of the alarm system over his shoulder and bounded into the room after her.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: I didn't have an idea for a third chapter, but there's a very persistent guest reviewer, so this is for you!**_

_**Sorry, it might feel rushed. I apologize. I married a farmer and it's harvest season.**_

Sunlight was streaming through the only partially closed blinds when Anakin stirred the next morning. He glanced at the chrono first and then to Padme's empty side of the bed. Looking around the room, he saw her fastening an earring and turning to look at him as she heard the blankets rustle.

"Well good morning, My Love." She smiled and gracefully stood from her seat in the acres wide skirt. Anakin still didn't understand how she managed to move so efficiently in these outfits. She leaned down to kiss him. "You looked so peaceful. I didn't want to wake you."

He reached for her waist and tried to drag her back to the bed with him. She gave a quiet squeal and then laughed, "Anakin, it's nearly 8:30, I need to get to my office and you need to check in at the temple."

His face turned sour at her words, "to your office. To meet with Clovis again."

Sighing and walking out of their bedroom, she expected him to follow, and he did not disappoint. While pour herself a fresh cup of caf, she kept her back to him as she spoke, "I thought we cleared this up last night?"

Leaning against the doorframe while pulling a tunic over his head, he grumbled, "We did. I just still don't like the guy. I don't trust him one bit and I don't think his interests align with the best interests for the Republic in the same way yours or mine do."

"Be that as it may, Anakin, I still have work to do with him." She stirred in flavored creamer- Nubian salt toffee- and smiled at the aroma. "But I will make you a promise." He came up behind her and pulled her back against him.

"Hmm? And what is that?" He gently rocked her back and forth.

"Mmm," she hummed. Why couldn't all of their moments together be like this? "He's going to want a representative to go with him to Scipio at the end of all of this to report our findings. I'm not going to go. I want to see this project through to the end, but you're right, I don't trust him or the idea of going back to Scipio. But hey," she turned in his arms and gently set the caf mug down. "I want to thank you. You've handled this very well. If you had come at this more hot-headed and I had reacted in kind, I'm not sure where we would be this morning."

"Padme," he breathed in her scent, not daring to contemplate this other world where he had given in to what he wanted to do- rip Clovis' face off. "I have no doubt that no matter what we did, we would be able to come out on the other side of it still loving each other, still trusting each other. It's what we do. I can't imagine us any other way."

"I suppose you're right."

"Oh, you suppose, do you." He said it on a chuckle and swooped in to kiss her once, twice, three times before pulling away, "you mentioned that you were running late."

Cupping his face gently and picking her caf back up, Padme reminded him one last time, "I love you, Anakin, thank you."

She shrugged into her cloak and bustled out her door, Typho's footfalls echoing down the hall after her from where he'd been waiting outside her door.

The next few days were hectic for the both of them. Anakin kept his temper in check, even when, as Padme predicted, Clovis had tried to convince her to come back to Scipio with him. She had stood firm and he returned alone, claiming that if Padme wouldn't come with him, the case wouldn't be nearly as strong, but he could manage on his own rather than try to fill in someone cold to the topic.

A few days after his departure, Anakin was in the Temple, receiving a briefing on a new inner-core world attack by the Separatists. He heard the reports of the commerce building being attacked. He head that there were unconfirmed reports of deaths and injuries, Clovis among them, he even volunteered to be the envoy to the Senate the next day to confirm their intelligence reports across the board, but he just kept repeating one phrase over and over again in his head, "that could have been Padme. That could have been Padme."

As soon as he was dismissed, he hopped in a speeder, ignoring Obi-wan's calls down the hall, and flew to the landing pad at Padme's apartment. He sensed her in their living area, in front of the holo. She was holding a blanket to her chest and she looked shaken. Hearing his footsteps, she turned.

"Oh Anakin!" she reached eagerly for him and he sat next to her, pulling her tightly against him. "That would have been me if I had agreed to go with him. We heard reports at the Senate building and the Chancellor pulled me into his office to deliver the news to me. He said that he thought I should know since Rush and I had been working so closely together. The attack from the Separatists was in his office. We had reports from feeds within his inner office that recorded much of what happened. He had made deals with the Separatists. When I didn't show up, the deals started to go bad and when he tried to back out entirely, a fight broke out and his office was damaged badly enough that it was exposed to the open air. Anakin, Rush is dead. He fell to his death."

"Padme, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He clung on to her and let her cry herself out. When she was worn, he picked her up and took her quietly to their bed.

He knew this had shaken her and he realized just how much when each time that he moved in the night, he awoke to her clinging on to him. He held her all night.

He was reluctant to leave in the morning, but he was commed several times and he remembered his abrupt departure the day before.

When he returned to their apartments, heart heavy with a new assignment, Padme was still there.

"Palpatine told me not to come in today. He said that the shock of yesterday deserved some rest." She paused and took in his face. "What's wrong? I mean, aside from everything."

Digging his hands back into his hair, he sat down in the nearest chair, "Padme, I've been given a new assignment. The outer-rim sieges aren't going well. They need me out there. I have to go, tonight, and I don't know when I'll be back."

Coming to him in his chair, Padme lifted his chin to look him in the eyes, "We both do our duty. We knew this would be coming soon." Pausing and then deciding swiftly how she wanted to spend her few remaining hours with her husband, she climbed onto his lap. "We both know we have to do our duty to the Republic. But we also have a duty to each other. I love you, and I'm proud to be your wife. Never forget that."

"I could never." He brought his lips down to hers and picked himself up, still tightly clutching her against him. He walked them to their bedroom and they reminded themselves one last time before his departure. One last time to hold them over for nearly five months.

…And in five months, upon his return, Anakin would hear those fateful words, "Ani, something wonderful has happened!"


End file.
